Shadow's Mark
by DarkHououmon
Summary: Yet another alternate. During the helicopter chase, Sloan kidnaps Eliza. To get her back, her family must pay a huge sum of money, or else watch her get killed..... DELAYED


Author's note: I got this idea...I don't know when. Iap64 helped out with some things. I did the best I could on this, but I was really tired when I wrote this chapter. Oo; I was literally half-asleep, so sorry if this chapter is so....short. Oo; ::yawns:: Anyway, enjoy the best you can. ^^; Oh, and thanks Iap for the help! :P Another note: I decided to not write that other fanfic I mentioned in "And Then There Was Silence". I lost interest in it. :( 

On lighter news, I'm working on a sequel for "On The Other Side", so expect the post in a few weeks or so. If I decide I can't write it anymore, I'll make an author's note. 

I wanted to put a song in here, but there was no song I could find that sounded right and fit this story perfectly. :( Plus, I got too tired to look....   


SHADOW'S MARK   
Story by DarkHououmon   
  
  


The gunfire shot rang through the plains of the Serengeti. The echo seemed endless as Eliza Thornberry quickly looked up to the source of the sound. _'What's that?'_ But that was a stupid question. The child knew very well what the sound was, and what kind of person may have caused it. She saw a speck flying towards them, but as it came closer, the lights blaring faintly revealed the shape of a dark black helicopter. A ladder was hanging down, and a man was climbing out. He wasn't aiming to kill, but aiming to startle the cubs out of hiding. Eliza could feel her heart beating faster, and she turned to her friends. She shouted the only word she could manage as the helicopter got closer. "RUN!!!" She broke off into a run, but a flashlight revealed her and the animals' paths. 2 of the cheetah cubs ran back to their homes, but the last one, Tally, had tripped. The cub looked up as the man came down closer. Tally looked too scared to move, and he was grasped by the scruff of his neck. Eliza stopped running when she heard Tally's cry, "Help!" 

Her eyed widened, and she turned back. "Tally!" She ran as fast as she could. She was surprised that she caught up as well as she did, and she grabbed the cheetah's front leg to try and pull him down. The man, however, was too strong and pulled the cub out of her grasp. "Eliza!!" "Tally!!" The cub was yanked up inside the cockpit and the helicopter picked up speed. Eliza suddenly felt the blur of something running past her. _'Akela.' _The cheetah mom was faster than the Thornberry child, and soon caught up with the poacher. She leapt up into the air, and sank her teeth into his back. Her teeth, unfortunately, weren't strong enough. Marianne and Nigel had also heard the gunshots, and saw the cheetah mom attacking the poacher. "There's the poachers!" Marianne shouted before she started to drive off after the helicopter. They drove their motorcycle as fast as they could to try and stop the poachers from getting away. But they noticed too late of who else was coming.... 

"Tally!" Eliza shouted again as she began to pick up speed. She screamed in surprise as Akela was kicked off of the ladder. The mother came tumbling down and barely missed hitting Eliza. Eliza kept on moving fast. Her eyes were locked on the cub that was in danger, and her mind was focused on saving him. She was finally able to grab the ladder and was suddenly lifted high up into the air. She looked down, and she felt a new fear overtake her. She hung on tightly, and shouted at the poacher, "Let him go! He's just a baby!" She tried to look up at the poacher to get a good look at his face, but the man quickly pulled out a flashlight and shined it in her eyes. The girl screamed as the light blinded her. She squinted to shield her eyes from the light, and shifted her head away. Down on the ground, there was a shout of shock. "Eliza!" Marianne and Nigel looked up in horror as their daughter hung on to the ladder as best as she could. The helicopter was going up even higher. If Eliza fell, she might not make it. 

"Nigel, give me the phone. I'll call Debbie." Was Marianne's simple command as she picked up speed to try and catch up. "Righto!" Nigel pulled out a phone that he was keeping, and handed it quickly to his wife. She dialed a number, and Debbie picked up the phone. "Debbie, I need you to bring the Commvee down the Serengeti pronto!" She heard Debbie sigh disgustedly. "But I'm grounded, remember?" The teenager winced as she heard her mom shouting from the other line. "Just do it! We'll meet up with you later." "Okay, mom." Debbie hung up her phone. She looked at the wheel, and smiled. She quickly sat down, and turned the engine on. Suddenly, to Cordelia's surprise, the Commvee started to move very fast rather quickly. She was almost tossed to the back. "Deborah, slow down!!" Debbie didn't pay her much attention. She was enjoying the ride too much. "Sorry, grandmomsie. Mom's orders!" She opened up her eyes, and saw Donnie in front of her. "Donnie! This is no time for the Wedgie Dance!" Cordelia quickly picked up the child, but was disgustingly greeted by a lick on the face. "Yuck....." She muttered as Donnie laughed wildly. 

Debbie finally gotten close enough where she could see her parents. She moved up as close as she could to them, but also looked up ahead. "Debbie, follow the helicopter." Nigel shouted from the motorcycle. The teenager could see the outline of a child figure hanging from the ladder. She slowly shook her head. _'Of all the times....'_ "I couldn't have had a sister who played with dolls." She muttered as she readied the Commvee for Nigel's arrival. The man was able to jump aboard. He looked at Cordelia holding onto Donnie as best as she could. She looked at her son, and said, "Nigel, we need to discuss the behavior of your children!" Nigel smiled nervously as he moved up into the front next to Debbie. "I'm sorry, momsie, but now's not the time." He quickly pushed a button, and the top of the vehicle inflated so that if Eliza fell down she would land on the Commvee. Eliza, however, was too busy hanging on. The man above her looked angry, and he stomped his foot on her hands. The girl refused to let go for a while, but the pain proved too much for her. She quickly let go and grabbed on barely to the end of the rope. He heard the man above her snarl in frustration, and quickly moved up into the cockpit. 

_'I hope I can hang on....' _Eliza's mind wondered. She looked up, and saw a glimpse of the man looking down at her. She lowered her head in slight fear. She looked down again, and knew she couldn't let go. But if she didn't, she would be captured. She didn't know what to do, but her fear spoke for her as she clung onto the rope ladder as tightly as she could. _'Gotta hang on....' _She suddenly felt herself jerk forward. She thought at first that they must have hit something, yet they were flying it midair. How could she have hit something? She slowly looked up, and saw that the poacher was pulling the rope up, and along with her! The ladder twisted a little, and it went up faster than expected. Eliza was starting to lose her grip. The yanking had weakened her hands trying to hang on to the rope. She looked back down to the ground. Her family was chasing her as well as Akela was. _'Akela, I'm sorry.' _She winced. Her hands were getting too tired to hang on to the rope. She took a single breath and felt her grip collapse all together. She could fell herself start to plummet towards the ground. Marianne straightened up, and screamed, "My baby!" 

The girl could have sworn that she should have fallen the several feet down. But she found herself floating. _'Floating? In midair?' _That couldn't be possible. She was a human! Humans can't fly, or float. The only other alternate was...she widened her eyes in horror. She turned around, and could get a better view of the man's face. The light shining on him showed that he was a blonde, and about the same size as her dad. Eliza felt a tight squeeze on her arm. The poacher had grabbed her before she fell. She could feel slight pain from it, and she looked at her parents. "MOM! DAD!" That was all she managed to say before a single yank took her into the helicopter with the poachers. The door instantly closed, and the helicopter sped up and went higher. The family below was in shock. Akela stopped to rest, too overwhelmed by the disappearance of her cub. Marianne stopped the Congo-Com motorcycle, and Debbie managed to stop the Commvee. Horror and sorrow were on their minds. Cordelia, Debbie, Marianne, and Nigel all gathered around, and looked straight up. The helicopter seemed to disappear right before their eyes. Cordelia seemed to frozen in shock to make a response. Debbie fell to her knees, and tried to hold back tears. Marianne hid her face in her hands, sobbing. Nigel looked up, and had a pained look on his face. They all shouted the one word on their minds. "ELIZA!!!!!!!!" 

When Eliza was pulled into the flying machine, she soon found herself engulfed in total darkness. The only thing she could hear at first was her own heart beating and her breathing. "Where am I?" She whispered lightly. Her mind, however, was frozen in terror. She knew very well where she was. "What are you doing here?!" A harsh masculine voice rang out, and a bright light shined in her eyes again. Eliza screamed in surprise and fell down. She recovered from the shock, she shifted her gaze to the new direction to get a good look at her kidnapper. The poacher narrowed his eyes dangerously. "What are you doing here?!" He shouted again, roughly grabbing her by the arm. Eliza whimpered in fear, and starting shaking. Her horror-filled eyes never left his cold-ice gaze. Her only response was a few whimpers. It was clear she wasn't going to answer much of anything. The man throw her into the ground. She cried out in pain. "Answer me!" She let out a few breaths, and managed to choke out, "I was....trying to...save the cub....." The poacher smiled evilly. "But look what happened in the process." He let her go, and got up. Tally was sitting in the front. He couldn't do anything to defend himself. Eliza glared at the man. "Just who are you?" She demanded. 

"I should ask you the same question, girl." He moved in closer, and lowered his gaze. "My name....is Sloan Blackburn." He pointed to the driver, which was a female. She was too busy operating the helicopter to worry about what was going on in the back. "That is my wife, Bree Blackburn." He gazed at the girl darkly. "And...who might you be, little girl?" Eliza stood up in defense. "I'm not a little girl, and why should...." She didn't finish her sentence. Sloan, snarling, grabbed her throat and squeezed hard. Eliza closed her eyes tightly at the pain, and gritted her teeth. She struggled to get out of Sloan's grasp but he was too strong. After a few moments, he loosened his grip a little, and pulled the child closer to him. "If you don't answer, I might just let your parents found you....drowned down river!" He dropped the child. She rubbed her throat, and said sorely, "Okay..I'm Eliza Thornberry..." She quickly shut her mouth realizing her mistake. She looked nervously towards Sloan, and saw that he had another evil look on his face. "Thornberry? Any relation to Nigel Thornberry?" Eliza gulped, and crouched to her knees, scared, and nodded slowly. "He's my...father." She closed her eyes, and could feel herself cry at Sloan's laughing response. 

"Sloan, what's going on back there?" Bree asked. She looked out the window to get a better view of the ground. Eliza felt herself looking towards the window herself. She could see a river rushing by. The machine was headed towards a tall cliff just above it. She could see a trailer parked there, and some firewood. Sloan said, "We've got the child of Nigel Thornberry." "Isn't the one who was knighted in England?" _'What?!' _Eliza scared in shock. _'How did she know?'_ The man chuckled darkly. He looked back at Eliza, and she could tell he had something devious planned. "Yes, and I think she might be of some use to us yet." Eliza cringed back. "What do you plan to do to me?" Sloan shook his head. "Nothing...yet. I'll put a ransom on you. That'll make your daddy want to save you, eh?" She shook in fear and anger. She however made no response. She finally stuttered. "T-T-They won't do an-anything you s-s-say!" She tried to sound brave, but the truth was, she was scared out of her wits. Sloan's evil smile returned, and he reached into his pocket. "Oh, but they must, otherwise...." He quickly pulled out his eagle-handeled knife. He aimed the sharp end at Eliza's throat. "...you'll have a permanent naptime." Eliza looked up at him, dread covering her mind. _'No...'___

"No!" She moved quickly back from the knife to try and get out of the helicopter. Sloan reacted too fast, grabbing her by the arm again. He knew he had no choice. He slammed the knife into the girl's arm. A loud scream rang out though the helicopter. Sloan wanted to plug his ears so badly due to the loud shrill, but he had to restrain the girl. The blade sank into the girl's left arm. She screamed again, and quickly looked at her limb. The blade was so deep....the pain was so great. Blood flowed from it rather quickly and stained the ground. Sloan pulled the blade out, which hurt Eliza more than it had when the knife was put in. She cried in pain, and pulled her arm close to her. She tried to keep her eyes open, but it was no use. She could only feel the blood running through her fingers, and onto the ground. The pain was too great for her to handle. Her world was disappearing before her. Dizziness overwhelmed her due to pain and blood loss. She finally collapsed unconscious on the ground. Sloan smirked darkly. "Now we just need to hand out the ransom....." 

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Kinda short, eh? Well I'm either starting to loose the feel for fanfic writing, or I should sleep more. Oo; Anyway, I'll try to post up chapter two ASAP. "Dangerous Game".....that's probably going to be cancelled, sadly. I just can't think of what to do for the last chapter. O_o; I like it, but not as much as I once did. I really do hope I'll see Sloan again. :) I wonder if K-C accepts any ideas from fans.....don't you think? It would be nice if they did...Oh well.....I better go to sleep soon. I'm just so tired.....heh, and it's only 8:30 PM. Must be this light..... ::yawns:: Bye. 


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